The present invention relates to a method and to a device for displaying a velocity vector of an aircraft.
It is known that the display of a velocity vector which is intended to indicate the point in space toward which the aircraft is oriented (without however being representative of the amplitude of the velocity) may, in particular, be produced on a display screen of the aircraft""s instrument panel or of a head-up display visor.
When an aircraft which is fit with such a device passes through a region of turbulence, the position of said velocity vector on the display screen is affected by the turbulence. Similarly, when the aircraft jettisons load, its flight path is temporarily disturbed, which leads to a variation in the position of the velocity vector displayed. However, in this case, at the end of a relatively short time, the aircraft returns to its initial flight path.
When the pilot notices a variation in the position of the velocity vector on the screen, he is tempted to act on a control column, in order to return the aircraft to its initial flight path. Since the disturbances in question (turbulence, jettisoning, etc.) have a limited effect over time on the flight path of the aircraft, the consequence of such a pilot action is a lasting modification of the flight path, that is to say an effect opposite to the desired effect. The pilot must, in this case, carry out a second action on the column, in a direction opposite to the direction of his first action, in order to return the aircraft to its initial flight path. In some situations, especially when passing through a region of turbulence, this second action may lead to too great a correction of the flight path. Other actions on the column are then necessary to succeed in stabilizing the aircraft on the desired flight path.
Of course, such a phenomenon, which can be likened to xe2x80x9cpilot induced oscillationsxe2x80x9d must be prevented, since it may especially lead to accelerated fatigue of the aircraft structure and it monopolizes the attention of the pilot in phases of flight where he may have to undertake other actions.
A known solution making it possible to overcome this problem consists in filtering the display of the velocity vector by means of a low-pass filter having a time constant of between a few tenths of a second and a few seconds. This makes it possible to prevent the aforementioned phenomenon, but the result of this is a new problem: when the pilot desires to modify the flight path by acting on the control column, this low-pass filter introduces a delay between the modification of the flight path resulting from the action on the control column and the variation in the display of the velocity vector on the screen. This lack of ability to react hampers the judgement by the pilot of the effect of his action on the control column, which makes mastering such an action very difficult. This is because, if the pilot acts, for example, for too long on the control column, there is a risk of overshooting the desired flight path, which may lead to xe2x80x9cpilot induced oscillationsxe2x80x9d, as described above.
Moreover, document EP-0 366 164 proposes another solution consisting in displaying either a velocity vector corresponding to the actions of the pilot (controlled velocity vector), or the measured velocity vector. A switching device makes it possible to display one or other of these velocity vectors. Under xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d flight conditions, corresponding to predefined velocity ranges, angle of incidence, load factor, etc., the controlled velocity vector is displayed. On the other and, when the aircraft operates outside these xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d flight conditions, the measured velocity vector is displayed. During the switching between these two velocity vectors, filtering is applied to avoid discontinuity of the display.
However, this known solution has drawbacks. In particular, two different information items are displayed with a single symbol, which requires logic for changing over between these two information items, which may lead to possible problems of transition, of choice which is not always optimum between one or other information item, etc.
The object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks. It relates to a method for displaying a velocity vector of an aircraft, which makes it possible to generate a display:
which remains stable, even in the case of temporary disturbances in the flight path of said aircraft, due for example to turbulence or to jettisoning of load; and
which is highly reactive, during consecutive variations of flight path, to at least one action of a pilot on a control member or column of the aircraft.
To this end, according to the invention, said method according to which:
a display value representing the value of said velocity vector to be displayed and dependent on a first term which comprises a measured and filtered value of the velocity vector is determined automatically and repetitively; and
a characteristic sign illustrating said velocity vector, the position of which on said display screen is representative of said display value, is presented on a display screen, is noteworthy in that, in order to determine said display value:
the value of the time derivative of a velocity vector which is controlled by the pilot of said aircraft is determined;
a second term is calculated from said value of the derivative of the controlled velocity vector; and
the sum of said first and second terms is calculated so as to form said display value.
Thus, by virtue of the invention, the aforementioned drawbacks can be overcome. This is because:
said first term which takes into account a filtered value of the (effective) measured velocity vector makes it possible to obtain a stable display of the velocity vector, even in the case of temporary disturbances of the flight path; and
said second term which takes into account the derivative of the controlled velocity vector guarantees a suitable and high reactivity of the velocity vector display during variations in the flight path due to pilot actions, especially on a control column.
Furthermore, by virtue of continuously taking account (via a summator) of these two terms, and therefore of the measured velocity vector and of the controlled velocity vector, no transition logic is needed, unlike the solution proposed by the aforementioned document EP-0 366 164.
Advantageously:
said first term xcex31 is calculated from the following expression:
xe2x80x83xcex31=[1/(1+xcfx841xc3x97s)]xc3x97xcex3mes
in which:
s is the Laplace transform;
xcfx841 is a predetermined time constant; and
xcex3mes represents the measured velocity factor; and
said second term xcex32 is calculated from the following expression:
xcex32=[xcfx842/(1 +xcfx843xc3x97s)]xc3x97xcex3der
in which:
s is the Laplace transform;
xcfx842 and xcfx843 are predetermined time constants; and
xcex3der represents the derivative of the velocity vector controlled by the pilot.
According to the invention, the time constants xcfx841, xcfx842 and xcfx843 may be determined as a function of various parameters, in particular as a function of the aircraft mass. These time constants may of course be different from each other. However, in a simplified embodiment, said time constants xcfx841, xcfx842 and xcfx843 are equal.
Moreover, advantageously, in order to determine the component of the display value in a (first) vertical direction, the derivative of the controlled velocity vector is determined by taking account of one of the following controls:
control of the load factor of the aircraft;
control of the inclination of the aircraft; and
control of the derivative of the inclination of the aircraft.
By taking account of the control of the aircraft load factor, preferably, the derivative xcex3der of the controlled velocity vector xcex3com is calculated from the controlled variation of the load factor xcex94Nzpil, by using the following expression:
xcex3der=(g/V)xc3x97xcex94Nzpil
in which:
g is the acceleration due to gravity; and
V is the velocity of the aircraft.
Moreover, advantageously, in order to determine the component of the display value in a second direction which is lateral to the aircraft and orthogonal to said vertical direction, the derivative of the controlled velocity vector is determined from the control of the roll rate (angular velocity over the roll axis) of the aircraft.
The present invention also relates to a device for displaying a velocity vector of an aircraft and implementing the aforementioned method.
According to the invention, said device of the type comprising:
a first means for measuring the effective value of the velocity vector of the aircraft;
a computing unit for determining, automatically and repetitively, a display value representing the value of the velocity vector to be displayed, said computing unit comprising a filtering means which filters the value measured by said first means so as to form a first term; and
a display unit for presenting on a display screen a characteristic sign illustrating said velocity vector whose position on said display screen is representative of said display value,
is remarkable in that it comprises, in addition, a second means for determining the time derivative of a velocity vector controlled by an aircraft pilot, and in that said computing unit further comprises:
a computing means which determines a second term from said derivative of the controlled velocity vector; and
a summator which sums said first and second terms so as to form said display value.
Moreover, the present invention relates to an aircraft, in particular a civil transport aircraft, which is fit with the aforementioned device.